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Application essay length.

According to my UT application at ApplyTexas.com it reads "If you are submitting your essay online, it must be no longer than 120 eighty-character lines of text (including spaces and blank lines)."

Does this mean 120 lines of text of about 80 characters each? Also, does font, font size, and spacing (double spaced or single spaced) matter? Im typing mine single spaced in Times New Roman 12 point font. If I do it double spaced, would each space between lines count towards the line limit as a "blank line"?

But if you are submitting it by mail it reads "If you are mailing in a paper copy of your essay(s), please put your full name, date of birth and the ApplyTexas application ID at the top of each page. Unless otherwise specified, your essay should be typed and no longer than one page (8 1/2" x 11")."

What bothers me about the mailed version is that a "full page" is much less than 120 lines.
Its about 40 wen i checked!
Does spacing matter here too?

Replies to: Application essay length.

80 characters is 80 characters no matter what size font you use. (You might find it easiest to picture 80-character lines of text by using Courier font. With Courier, each character uses the same amount of space, so all of the 80-character lines look like they are the same length.)

Whether you have set your original page up for double or single spacing doesn't matter but if you are running out of space, don't put extra blank lines between paragraphs. Each extra carriage returns count as an extra character.

Your printed-out version looks smaller because it is in a proportionally-spaced font, Times New Roman. (If you want to see the difference, try printing it out in Courier 12-point with wide enough margins that only 80 characters fit on each line.)

I know that would give me the actual limit in terms of characters, but I feel like I am writing way to little. Right now, the length of Essays A, B, and C for me are 467, 456, and 441 words respectively. They are currently being revised by my english teacher.

My C is 1000~ words and my A is 400~ words. Obviously, I think my C essay is on the long side but in general, I really don't think UT Austin admissions is based on the essays as so much as GPA and scores (most important) and extracurriculars/awards (important)

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